Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

[Nothing Special]

this may be a great example of the simplest solution being the best. well done.

Thanks all!

This is an example of what a guy I work with calls an "allzagatta." Allzagatta do is tie the two sides together!

[Nothing Special]

this may be a great example of the simplest solution being the best. well done.

Thanks all!

This is an example of what a guy I work with calls an "allzagatta." Allzagatta do is tie the two sides together!

About 4 years ago I put a set of ProComp Xtreme MT mud tires on Pluto. They've always been louder than I've wanted on the highway, but otherwise good tires. So I kept running them until I sliced two of the four in Moab this summer.

I've had four sets of the original BFG Mud-Terrains (before the "KM" designation) on trucks and my Jeep before. They weren't as quiet as highway tires, but they were very easy to live with. I was hoping that 40+ years of R&D had led BFG to still have a quiet mud tire. And number of people I asked said that the KM3 was the quietest mud tire on the market. So I decided to get a set of four.

I quickly realized that they are worse (in my opinion) than the ProComps for noise on my Bronco on the highway. They are probably a little quieter, but they have a two-tone noise that's really annoying (it's a tritone, "the devil's chord," for those of you who know music, or the pitches that a French police siren in a movie has).

I made a video trying to capture the relative noise of the four tires I currently have for comparison. I only have one of one of them, so the test was to put three of the likely quietest tires on, and put one test tire on the left front.

.

The first tire in the test was the BFG KM3.

Second was the ProComp Xtreme MTs I've been using for 'wheeling the last 4 years.

Third was the Kenda Klever RT that I've had as a full size spare to go with my 33" tires.

Last was that I put the fourth highway tire on. Those are Hankook Kinergy PT.

I think the video confirms my thought that the ProComp tire is the loudest, but the BFG is only slightly quieter, and with a dissonance that makes it more objectionable. Those two tires are mud tires, so it's not surprising that they would be the two loudest in the test. It's not at all surprising that the Hankook, as a highway tire, is the quietest. So it's also expected that the Kenda, as a all-terrain / mud tire hybrid is between the mud and highway tires. But it was surprising to me that the Kenda was much quieter than the mud tires, almost as quiet as the highway tire.

I decided that I can't live with the BFG KM3s. I would have liked to switch to Kenda Klever RTs now, but that tire has been discontinued. I thought about going with a Kenda mud tire, hoping that they were only a little louder than the RTs. But I wasn't sure I wanted to take that risk, and BFG only wanted to give me (most of) my money back if I went with another set of BFGs. So today I got a set of BFG All-Terrain KO2s. I might have preferred the KO3, but that's not available in a 15" tire. I did have one set of KO2s before, on my pickup. I didn't love them there as they were loud for a highway tire and they "tracked" too much on pavement (pulling back and forth). But I think they'll be a good compromise for the off-road tires on my Bronco, and I think they'll be much easier to live with than the KM3s.

So far I haven't put the KO2s on Pluto yet, so I don't know anything more. We're heading out on vacation, so I won't get to try them (or be on this board much) for a while. But in early October we're taking Pluto down to Missouri again, so they'll get tested out pretty soon.

[Gary Lewis]

About 4 years ago I put a set of ProComp Xtreme MT mud tires on Pluto. They've always been louder than I've wanted on the highway, but otherwise good tires. So I kept running them until I sliced two of the four in Moab this summer.

I've had four sets of the original BFG Mud-Terrains (before the "KM" designation) on trucks and my Jeep before. They weren't as quiet as highway tires, but they were very easy to live with. I was hoping that 40+ years of R&D had led BFG to still have a quiet mud tire. And number of people I asked said that the KM3 was the quietest mud tire on the market. So I decided to get a set of four.

I quickly realized that they are worse (in my opinion) than the ProComps for noise on my Bronco on the highway. They are probably a little quieter, but they have a two-tone noise that's really annoying (it's a tritone, "the devil's chord," for those of you who know music, or the pitches that a French police siren in a movie has).

I made a video trying to capture the relative noise of the four tires I currently have for comparison. I only have one of one of them, so the test was to put three of the likely quietest tires on, and put one test tire on the left front.

.

The first tire in the test was the BFG KM3.

Second was the ProComp Xtreme MTs I've been using for 'wheeling the last 4 years.

Third was the Kenda Klever RT that I've had as a full size spare to go with my 33" tires.

Last was that I put the fourth highway tire on. Those are Hankook Kinergy PT.

I think the video confirms my thought that the ProComp tire is the loudest, but the BFG is only slightly quieter, and with a dissonance that makes it more objectionable. Those two tires are mud tires, so it's not surprising that they would be the two loudest in the test. It's not at all surprising that the Hankook, as a highway tire, is the quietest. So it's also expected that the Kenda, as a all-terrain / mud tire hybrid is between the mud and highway tires. But it was surprising to me that the Kenda was much quieter than the mud tires, almost as quiet as the highway tire.

I decided that I can't live with the BFG KM3s. I would have liked to switch to Kenda Klever RTs now, but that tire has been discontinued. I thought about going with a Kenda mud tire, hoping that they were only a little louder than the RTs. But I wasn't sure I wanted to take that risk, and BFG only wanted to give me (most of) my money back if I went with another set of BFGs. So today I got a set of BFG All-Terrain KO2s. I might have preferred the KO3, but that's not available in a 15" tire. I did have one set of KO2s before, on my pickup. I didn't love them there as they were loud for a highway tire and they "tracked" too much on pavement (pulling back and forth). But I think they'll be a good compromise for the off-road tires on my Bronco, and I think they'll be much easier to live with than the KM3s.

So far I haven't put the KO2s on Pluto yet, so I don't know anything more. We're heading out on vacation, so I won't get to try them (or be on this board much) for a while. But in early October we're taking Pluto down to Missouri again, so they'll get tested out pretty soon.

I can hear the differences, Bob. And I agree about the tritone -

So, do you know yet if the K02's track? In my experience that can sometimes be a result of wheel width and tire pressures, so if it does initially on Pluto maybe you can find a pressure that doesn't? Usually I've had to go up a few pounds so the center of the tire was taking most of the load.

[Ifitaintbroke]

I can hear the differences, Bob. And I agree about the tritone -

So, do you know yet if the K02's track? In my experience that can sometimes be a result of wheel width and tire pressures, so if it does initially on Pluto maybe you can find a pressure that doesn't? Usually I've had to go up a few pounds so the center of the tire was taking most of the load.

Hey what's wrong with tritones? I've been known to use a little "controlled discord" sometimes.

[Nothing Special]

I can hear the differences, Bob. And I agree about the tritone - ....

And keep in mind this is with only one of the BFGs! It was a lot louder with all 4.

.... So, do you know yet if the K02's track? In my experience that can sometimes be a result of wheel width and tire pressures, so if it does initially on Pluto maybe you can find a pressure that doesn't? Usually I've had to go up a few pounds so the center of the tire was taking most of the load.

No. They mounted the tires on the rims yesterday afternoon, but we're getting ready to leave on a vacation (without Pluto) today. So the tires will sit in the garage until we get back. But Pluto isn't quite as "planted" and Oswald is (was?), so I expect a little wandering anyway.

Hey what's wrong with tritones? I've been known to use a little "controlled discord" sometimes.

"A little" dissonance is fine. It can definitely add to a musical composition. But eventually it needs to be resolved! And in this case the resolution was replacing the tires.